New drain being paved over; landscaping begins at Ukiah substation

Installation of a new storm drain in front of McDonald's on North Orchard Avenue is complete and crews are now paving over the work, Public Works Director and City Engineer Tim Eriksen said Thursday.

"The reason it's been (open) for so long is because Granite hadn't been running the asphalt plant, so there wasn't anything to put on top," Eriksen said, adding that the paving should be completed today.

Work is also continuing at the intersection of Gobbi and South State streets, and Eriksen said "all the underground work is done, which is the majority of the project."

The project included adding a right-turn lane from West Gobbi Street onto South State Street, as well as upgrades to the traffic signals and the water, sewer and storm drain facilities.

Eriksen said crews recently upgraded the sidewalk in front of the Chase branch, and now "they're waiting for a good time to pave. The colder it is when you pave, the worse the asphalt, so this cold snap is not helping. They might pull out for a while and wait a month or so."

When the paving is done, Eriksen said it will include "that whole intersection, and all the way down (East Gobbi Street) to Main Street."

Since the work began on the intersection, complaints have been coming in to the Ukiah Police Department and other departments about the timing of the traffic signal, and Eriksen said it should improve once the intersection is paved.

"What trigger the signals are magnetic loops put into the pavement that sense vehicles," he said. "When we dig things up, we cut through those (loops) and the signals get tuned to a timer, so they don't know when a vehicle is there. But you can't put the new loops in until the asphalt is on."

At East Gobbi Street and South Orchard Avenue, Electric Utility Director Mel Grandi said workers are beginning to put in a native plant garden in front of the electric substation.

"They'll be spending the next two to three weeks installing the (plants) and putting the finishing touches on the substation."

In December, the Ukiah City Council awarded a $47,650 contract for the landscaping work to Fieldstone Construction of Windsor.

Justine Frederiksen can be reached at udjjf@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @JustFrederiksen or at 468-3521.